Digital Cable, Ye Are Forgiven

Despite my reservations about paying a few extra dollars each month for more “channels of s@#t on the TV to choose from” (thanks Roger Waters), I have become a quick fan of my new channels thanks in large part to VH1 Classic Rock, Trio, and Bravo.

Last night, while attempting to plan a road trip to the desert (yeah, more on that at a later date), I stumbled upon Bravo’s showing of a Miles Davis bio. Quite interesting, even though I had seen parts of it before. That was followed by an in-depth bio of Johnny Cash, which was just fantastic. I then flipped around and caught Willie Nelson on Sessions at West 54th on some channel called Trio.

I was thoroughly impressed by the music shows I saw–VH1 Classic even played videos by Supertramp, Mungo Jerry, Donnie Iris, and some bad 80’s Rod Stewart that was still good to see. No Pink Floyd yet, but I am sure there’s some to come.

I even enjoyed seeing the video for “Bonita Applebum” by A Tribe Called Quest.

It got even better this morning as I was ironing pants for my 9-to-5. I heard a snippet of a song while changing to the news and flipped back to VH1 Classic again. It was The Mission’s “Kingdom Come” video –> The Stone Roses’ “I Wanna Be Adored” –> The Pixies’ “Here Comes Your Man” –> Cheap Trick’s “If You Want My Love”–seriously. The Mission? That impresses me. I love them. And seeing Robin Zander (Cheap Trick) dressed like some Patrick Swayze reject from Roadhouse was better than my morning coffee.

I am very impressed that this stuff gets played. I am sure to be let down by endless hours of Gloria Estefan and Paula Abdul videos, but hopefully there will be some more good 80’s nostalgia that reminds me of the old 120 Minutes on MTV.

By the way, MTV2 still fails to impress. If I wanted to see Snoop Dog, I’d watch regular MTV.